Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the Happiest People in the World


Book Description

This international bestseller shows why the Danes are happy and how we can be, too. For decades Denmark has ranked at the top of the world’s happiness surveys. How is it that these 5.6 million Danes are so content when they live in a country that is dark and cold nine months of the year and where income taxes are at almost 60 percent? At a time when talk across the Western world is focused on unemployment woes, government overreach, and anti-taxation lobbies, our Danish counterparts seem to breathe a healthier and fresher air. Interweaving anecdotes and research, Malene Rydahl explores how the values of trust, education, and a healthy work-life balance with purpose—to name just a few—contribute to a “happy” population. From eye-opening stories about open-air vegetable stands to babies safely left unattended while parents have coffee, to very generous paternity leave policies, Rydahl provides tips that we can all apply to our daily lives regardless of where we live.




The Danish Way of Parenting


Book Description

International bestseller As seen in The Wall Street Journal--from free play to cozy together time, discover the parenting secrets of the happiest people in the world What makes Denmark the happiest country in the world--and how do Danish parents raise happy, confident, successful kids, year after year? This upbeat and practical book presents six essential principles, which spell out P-A-R-E-N-T: Play is essential for development and well-being. Authenticity fosters trust and an "inner compass." Reframing helps kids cope with setbacks and look on the bright side. Empathy allows us to act with kindness toward others. No ultimatums means no power struggles, lines in the sand, or resentment. Togetherness is a way to celebrate family time, on special occasions and every day. The Danes call this hygge--and it's a fun, cozy way to foster closeness. Preparing meals together, playing favorite games, and sharing other family traditions are all hygge. (Cell phones, bickering, and complaining are not!) With illuminating examples and simple yet powerful advice, The Danish Way of Parenting will help parents from all walks of life raise the happiest, most well-adjusted kids in the world.




The Year of Living Danishly


Book Description

* NOW WITH A NEW CHAPTER * 'A hugely enjoyable romp through the pleasures and pitfalls of setting up home in a foreign land.'- Guardian Given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: Denmark, land of long dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries, was the happiest place on earth. Keen to know their secrets, Helen gave herself a year to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From childcare, education, food and interior design to SAD and taxes, The Year of Living Danishly records a funny, poignant journey, showing us what the Danes get right, what they get wrong, and how we might all live a little more Danishly ourselves. In this new edition, six years on Helen reveals how her life and family have changed, and explores how Denmark, too – or her understanding of it – has shifted. It's a messy and flawed place, she concludes – but can still be a model for a better way of living.




The Power of Nunchi


Book Description

"A must-read for anyone interested in the art of intuitively knowing what others feel." --Haemin Sunim, bestselling author of The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down and Love for Imperfect Things Improve your nunchi. Improve your life. The Korean sixth sense for winning friends and influencing people, nunchi (pronounced noon-chee) can help you connect with others so you can succeed in everything from business to love. The Power of Nunchi will show you how. Have you ever wondered why your less-skilled coworker gets promoted before you, or why that one woman from your yoga class is always surrounded by adoring friends? They probably have great nunchi. The art of reading a room and understanding what others are thinking and feeling, nunchi is a form of emotional intelligence that anyone can learn--all you need are your eyes and ears. Sherlock Holmes has great nunchi. Cats have great nunchi. Steve Jobs had great nunchi. With its focus on observing others rather than asserting yourself--it's not all about you!--nunchi is a refreshing antidote to our culture of self-promotion, and a welcome reminder to look up from your cell phone. Nunchi has been used by Koreans for more than 5,000 years. It's what catapulted their nation from one of the world's poorest to one of the richest and most technologically advanced in half a century. And it's why K-pop--an unlikely global phenomenon, performed as it is in a language spoken only in Korea--is even a thing. Not some quaint Korean custom like taking off your shoes before entering a house, nunchi is the currency of life. The Power of Nunchi will show you how the trust and connection it helps you to build can open doors for you that you never knew existed. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE




Eat Better Forever


Book Description

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER In Eat Better Forever, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall gives you all the tools to improve your eating habits, and therefore your life - permanently. And to help it all happen, he's added his 100 healthiest recipes yet. In this ground-breaking book, instead of promising a gimmicky single-fix solution to the challenge of healthy eating, Hugh extracts the knowledge, advice and healthy habits, from cutting edge research into the obesity crisis, to produce 7 simple strategies that will transform your diet and your health. Starting with the blissfully simple message that we all need to Go Whole, he leads us away from the industrial junk and processed foods that are doing so many of us so much harm and returns us to the real foods that nurture us and keep us well. Everything that follows is clear, believable and achievable. From sorting the good carbs from the bad, learning not to fear fat, and looking after our gut, to renegotiating the foods we call 'drinks' and being mindful of when to eat...and when to take a pause... Hugh guides us to a better way of eating that will last us our whole lives. It's all offered up with reassuring tips and switches that help us act on the vital knowledge he imparts. And the 100 recipes that come with it, and their endless variations, make for a lifetime of healthy eating.




The Digested Read


Book Description

Literary ombudsman John Crace never met an important book he didn't like to deconstruct. From Salman Rushdie to John Grisham, Crace retells the big books in just 500 bitingly satirical words, pointing his pen at the clunky plots, stylistic tics and pretensions of Big Ideas, as he turns publishers' golden dream books into dross.




The Almost Nearly Perfect People


Book Description

NAMED THE #1 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, A WITTY, INFORMATIVE, AND POPULAR TRAVELOGUE ABOUT THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES AND HOW THEY MAY NOT BE AS HAPPY OR AS PERFECT AS WE ASSUME Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another. Why are the Danes so happy, despite having the highest taxes? Do the Finns really have the best education system? Are the Icelanders as feral as they sometimes appear? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastic oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes? In The Almost Nearly Perfect People Michael Booth explains who the Scandinavians are, how they differ and why, and what their quirks and foibles are, and he explores why these societies have become so successful and models for the world. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterized by suffocating parochialism, and populated by extremists of various shades. They may very well be almost nearly perfect, but it isn't easy being Scandinavian.




10% Happier


Book Description

#1 New York Times Bestseller REVISED WITH NEW MATIERAL Winner of the 2014 Living Now Book Award for Inspirational Memoir "An enormously smart, clear-eyed, brave-hearted, and quite personal look at the benefits of meditation." —Elizabeth Gilbert Nightline anchor Dan Harrisembarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get happier that is truly achievable. After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hypercompetitive business, but had also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out. Finally, Harris stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.




Sophie's World


Book Description

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.




The Little Book of Lykke


Book Description

Join the happiness revolution! The author of the New York Times bestseller The Little Book of Hygge offers more inspiration and suggestions for achieving greater happiness, by practicing Lykke (LOO-ka)—pursuing and finding the good that exists in the world around us every day. While the Danes are the happiest people on the planet, happiness isn’t exclusively Danish; cultures around the world have their own unique approaches to leading a contented, fulfilled life. For his work at the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Meik Wiking travels the globe from Dubai to Finland, Rio de Janeiro to Bhutan, South Korea to the United States, to discover the secrets of the very happiest people. In The Little Book of Lykke, Meik identifies the six factors that explain the majority of differences in happiness across the world—togetherness, money, health, freedom, trust, and kindness—and explores what actions we can take to become happier. As he reveals, we can deepen our blissfulness and contentment with little adjustments in our behavior, whether it’s eating like the French (sitting around a table and savoring our time) or dancing the tango like Argentinians in Buenos Aires. With his trademark warmth and wit, Meik explores the happiness gap for parents, how much money you really need to buy happiness, how we can be healthier without having to go to the gym, how we can learn to build trust and collaboration, how we can help ourselves by helping others, and why our expectations often outweigh our reality. Weaving together original research and personal anecdotes, The Little Book of Lykke is a global roadmap for joy that offers a new approach to achieving everyday happiness that not only improve our own lives, but help us build better communities and a better world.